Millie Manders & the Shutup/Wrex

MILLIE MANDERS & THE SHUTUP/WREX

IAC 3rd May 2025

So, after a quiet month at INTERNATIONAL ART CENTRE it was back with a bang last night for some rocking good fun… First up was a band totally new to me, WREX, the duo of Mae Seaton and George Donoghue supported by drum and bass players. The music is a mix of rock and punk and is uniquely powerful and vibrant. The band is all about high octane high energy rocking and the perpetual motion of Mae and George who both leap around constantly, Mae in particular displaying enough energy and movement for at least 10 bands…

The music is hard rocking and powerful throughout and Mae’s powerful vocals are assured and very positive.. The songs, all original I believe, cover subjects such as mental health and vulnerability, but the power and energy of the music and visual performance do tend to make it difficult to concentrate on the lyrics…

Overall, though not my normal first choice of genre, this band know how to put on a vibrant compelling rock show, and perform with huge confidence, assurance and quality… overall a fine powerful set… mind you, I’m not sure that the voyages around the audience really add to the show… for me it tends to divide the attention to some extent… but a really powerful set.

Next up, the headliners, a band I knew by name and reputation but had never heard… Millie Manders and The Shutup Early on some technical gremlins seemed to be causing a few problems, but the band dealt with them without being put off their stride as they rocked through their powerful show.The band are musically excellent and play with real passion and intensity, and with a smile. Their energy and on-stage movement is enormous. Millie Manders always moving and at times appears to be going through a Marine style work out… The whole band is full of energy and movement, and are visually totally engaging throughout.. .again the power, intensity and visual spectacle of the band made it difficult to concentrate on the lyrics, though I felt they were probably very good and strong. At one point Millie invited anyone easily offered to leave for five minutes (no-one did!) While she spoke passionately about the horror of the awful situations around abuse and delivered a song, “Me Too”, on the subject… the pain and passion of the theme etched clearly on her face as she did so… and speaking of lyrics the songs also had some further strong political and ethical content… a rock’n’roll band with a commitment and social conscience… On the merch stand the band sell teddy bears… all there proceeds of which go to charity , I believe in support of victims of abuse.

The high energy and joy with which the band played had the audience dancing and the call and responses as well as the familiar songs/chorus’s (to the bulk of the audience, if not me) had the majority joining in with gusto and built the good strong party atmosphere…The band played around 90 minutes without let up in energy, commitment or style and delivered a cracking good set… thoroughly enjoyed it and wonder why I had never seen them before!!!

Keep music live… keep music real… support your local venues

The Fazed/Wailing Badger/Full Fathom Five/Dean Welch

THE FAZED/WAILING BADGER/FULL FATHOM FIVE/DEAN WELCH

Firebug 26th April 2025

Another terrific night of music... this time at Firebug... a cracking bill with 3 acts who were totally new to me and a real favourite... starting with Dean Welch... a terrific singer songwriter. Dean has a great strong voice and sings well, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar... The set was predominantly originals, with a couple of covers (Blossom/Arctic Monkey) included. His own songs are excellent, i particularly liked what he described as his only love song, which i think was called "For Eternity and a Second"

This was an excellent, very confident and assured set delivered by a fine performer.

Next up was a very different kind of band... FullFathomFive... they started out on stage as a duo, featuring acoustic guitar/vocals and keyboard.. after one song the rest of the band, featuring bass and cajon appeared and completed the line up... overall a fine relaxed band delivering fine songs with musicianship and good humour. At times the bass was almost like a lead instrument pounding away while the cajon kept up a lovely rhythm while the keyboards added melody and texture... the focus however was on the acoustic guitar/vocalist who delivered the songs with great style and quakity and in fact ended the set with a fun unlikely solo version of "Pink Pony Club".

Impossible to put a genre on this band, at times they sounded a bit country, at others more poppy.. the one thing I was sure of however is that they were really good and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance

After this, a change of style as Wailing Badger hit the stage with a powerful set of guitar/bass/drums rock... rocking from the first moment they kept up the levels throughout... this was very much a band performance, solid rocking from all three members, with no pretentious or self-indulgent soloing... just solid and potent rock music which rightly went down well with the audience... cracking good set

And finally, arguably one of the best rock bands in the area... The Fazed. I loved this band first time I saw them and every subsequent time i've seen them they seem to have grown in power and assurance... fabulous tight rocking indie rock delivered with huge energy and style with no hint of flash or pretension... just superb rocking music... In the engine room Foxy plays a powerhouse bass while Ritchie keeps it going with some great crisp and powerful drumming. Adam plays some powerful flowing guitar lines throughout while up front Dave sings with power and conviction while playing solid rhythm guitar...

Another superb set by the Fazed... terrific band on top form again last night

A superb evenings entertainment

Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues... 

Autumn Dawn Leader/Amy DX/Honest Dave/Karyn A

AUTUMN DAWN LEADER/AMY DX/HONEST DAVE/
KARYN A

TAKE THE STAGE @ DUFFYS: 24TH April 2024

For various reasons I've been to very few gigs this month but I am so glad I got to Duffys last night for "Take the Stage" which proved to be a really wonderful evening.

Things got off to a great start with a fine set by KARYN A. Playing a rare (if not first) solo gig. Karyn proved to be a fine singer with a warm expressive voice, and accompanied herself on acoustic guitar. Her own songs are strong and very good, and some are very personal and intense, which she handled with real aplomb. She described herself as a "storyteller"... and she is right... the only fault with the set is that I would like to have heard a few more songs... a really lovely start to the evening.

Next up was Honest Dave with Sharon Collier. I'd seen this duo a number of times before, and i think this was the best i've seen them. At least one familiar loved song and a host of, to me at least, new ones. I am not normally a lover of loopers, but Dave uses them to great effect with both guitar and voice creating lovely patterns... and it is easy to overlook that Dave is an accomplished guitar player, and the vocals, whether falsetto or at the natural levels are always spot on. Accompanying Dave is Sharon Collier, a fine and expressive musician adding some beautiful sax to the mix. Excellent set

I think everyone knows how much i love Amy and Autumn, and have reviewed both at the Big Diff recently.

Amy Dx was up next, unusually repeating the set she played at the Big Diff, but the sound was much better here... The set featured material from a forthcoming album and some older more familiar pieces.

Amy has a beautiful strong soulful voice and can soothe or pin you back in turns... she was in great voice last night and as ever delivered a superb performance

Finally, Autumn Dawn Leader... as Luke said in his introduction, "unique is a word used too often, but it really applies to Autumn"

She is a fabulous talent with a superb trained voice that not only soothes but can hit incredible heights of note and power at a moments notice.

The set featured a number of songs from the superb "Naked Truth" album, including a breathtaking version of "Howl"... as well as a couple of older numbers and a cover... as always... superb

The audience was fully attuned to all of the artists performing and clearly loved every moment of what was a really great night...

Huge thanks to all four acts for great sets and to Luke Broughton for bringing it together.

If you are in the strange camp of thinking you need to pay hundreds of pounds to go to a stadium or arena to hear good live music, forget it... give yourself a treat... come down to some of these shows and you will realise what a wealth of great talent there is in Leicester... and how many superb artists there are to see here... this is real music delivered by real musicians, for the love of it, because they are real talented musicians... and last night was a perfect example... fabulous night

Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues